# Pre-Fosbury high-jump record?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-fosbury-high-jump-record/177118>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-fosbury-high-jump-record/177118 "2003-05-23T21:51:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-fosbury-high-jump-record/177118/1 "2003-05-23T21:51:47Z")

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Come on, admit it. The little voice in your head thinks the Fosbury Flop is jes’ like stealin’. So, what is the pre-Fosbury high-jump record? (I guess there could be a post-Fosbury one higher, maybe from a combine.)

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-fosbury-high-jump-record/177118/2 "2003-05-23T22:00:06Z")

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They were pretty high. He did his thing in the 1968 Olympics, reaching 2.24 m, which was NOT a world record. At the time, the world record was 2.28 m from 1963 by Valeriy Brumel. ([World record in high jump over the years](http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/data/worldrec/mhjump.htm)) That WR wasn’t exceed until 1973.

If you charted the world record vs. year, I don’t think there would be a discontinuity at the point of “The Flop”. Rather surprising actually, given it’s legendary status.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-fosbury-high-jump-record/177118/3 "2003-05-24T01:16:40Z")

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It may be legendary, but it did revolutionize high jumping. The thing about Fosbury was that he was the only one doing it, and he won the gold medal. I remember watching him that year; not only did he jump in this weird manner, but he spent about a minute or so before concentrating, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Brumel and the other jumpers weren’t exactly doing what you might call a jump – they lifted off on one foot and rolled over the bar.

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**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-fosbury-high-jump-record/177118/4 "2003-05-24T12:34:41Z")

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> [@](#):
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> Brumel and the other jumpers weren’t exactly doing what you might call a jump – they lifted off on one foot and rolled over the bar.

YMMV but I’d call clearing 2.28m a jump.

And, of course, using a two footed take-off is illegal.

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**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-fosbury-high-jump-record/177118/5 "2003-05-24T20:36:55Z")

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Brumel, who just died, did what I believe was called a western roll.